Fatherhood in adolescence in the context of the health services, school and community

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the perception of the adolescent father regarding his interaction with the health services, school and community. It is an extract from the multicentric study turned Social Support Networks for Fatherhood in Adolescence, and has a qualitative, exploratory and descriptive approach. It was undertaken with 14 adolescent fathers in a university hospital. The semi-structured interviews were held six months after the birth of the child, between 2009 and 2010. Discursive textual analysis and the theoretical framework of Urie Bronfenbrenner were used for the construction of three categories: The adolescent father’s perception regarding his interaction with the school; with the health services; and with the community. The adolescent fathers were shown to be receptive to formal study, and present and participative in the health services and community; the possible difficulties of interaction between the adolescent fathers and the environments studied seem to result from the lack of organization and appropriate preparation for embracing them.